Pistol Shooting: Increase Accuracy with Proper Lubrication

Guy goes into buy a new German-engineered car, spends a lot of dough. then ignores the manufacturer’s basic maintenance procedures.

What’s he thinking?

If the same guy also spends time pistol shooting, odds are he’s being equally dumb about getting the maximum performance from his firearm, ignoring the fact that gun cleaning and proper gun lubrication can actually make his rounds more accurate. Yup. Tighten the spread down range on that old BULLSEYE. Be a better shot, just by using the right gun cleaning lubricants.

Here’s what’s going on.

The metal parts of all firearms are born in fire – forged in heat, but the surface of the finished metal making up any gun bore or barrel is like sandpaper if you could see the gun metal under a microscope. Millions of tiny imperfections, rough spots and angular edges, at the microscopic level. When a projectile … let’s call it a bullet, shall we? …travels across such a surface, its trajectory is ever so slightly rattled by the rough ride.

But if you take a little time to smooth out the roughness in the metal by cleaning and lubricating the metal properly, guess what? The round you fire is ever so slightly “stabilized” and becomes more accurate during your pistol shooting.

Get around any bunch of people enjoying some recreational pistol shooting, and you’ll hear all kinds of opinions about what to use to lube guns. The more clueless think they’re getting the job done with stuff like motor oil … or WD40 (which cleans some but hardly lubricates) … or, seriously, peanut butter. These pistol shooting enthusiasts have much in common with the guy who bought the German car. They’re simply not paying attention.

For starters, clean all gun metal surfaces well, using products like MIL-COMM’s MC25® detergent and enzymatic cleaner degreaser that properly prepare the bore, slides, rails and other wear parts for lubricating. Another good cleaning solution which can be used in combination with MC25® is 91% Isopropyl Alcohol available in most pharmacies.

Then get to work on the pores of the metal. You can’t see them, but you can treat them microscopically using a well engineered lubricant like MIL-COMM’s TW25B® synthetic gun grease, which contains PTFE nano-particles that actually fill in the imperfections of the metal surface. Think of this as being like applying RAINEX to piece of glass – like perfect glass, the end result is a roller-bearing smooth surface in the barrel (or other treated gun parts).

If you want to get serious about pistol shooting, get serious about basic gun care. You’ll get a lot more shooting with a lot less cleaning – plus added accuracy and increased muzzle velocity.